“Give us a minute, please,” she says with a far sweeter tone.
I roll my eyes as he sticks his middle finger up at me, yet gives her the most charming smile.
Taurnshit.
“No freaky shit in the forest,” Riven hollers as I grab Thayla’s hand and tug her along. “That’s how you get critters in your ass crack.”
My huff is drowned out by Thayla’s laughing. The sound sinks deep into my soul, and it loosens up enough that it’s not constricting my damn heart anymore.
“So…”
“So,” I repeat after her and she sighs.
“Don’t make me play the question game right now.”
“What’s the question game?”
“Where you make me pry answers from you by asking question after question. It’d be so helpful and easier if you just told me what was said or what made your soul squeeze mine in a hug so tight it stole my breath for a second.”
My nose scrunches from that description.
“My soul doesn’t give hugs.”
She snorts. “Your soul most definitely hugs mine. A lot. All the time. It’s a big, ol’ sweet cuddly thing.”
“Enough.” I grunt and her victorious chuckle pulls a smirk to my lips.
“Fine. I assume whatever Iric brought up caused that to happen?”
“Yeah.” I sigh, then rub my hand down my face. “He brought up someone I haven’t thought about in years. Her name was Lusia Nighly. She died six years ago. She…”
My lips flap together as words escape me. I replay that day, those moments, repeatedly.
My choices that day have always weighed heavily on me.
Iric and his stupid-ass powers brought it all back to the surface.
“She what?” she asks quietly.
If you can talk about this to anyone, it’s her.
“She killed herself, very publicly, in front of the healing villas. I just found out the true reason why that was. Before she did that, though, moments before, she prayed to me. Begged me to do it for her. I would have. I know that sounds horrible, but my power is very efficient at what prayers it does and doesn’t allow to come through. Hers came through, which means her soul was ready.”
“I don’t mean to sound insensitive or ask so directly, but why didn’t you?”
“An infant’s soul in the Abandon was screaming out at the same time. She was minutes away from her power releasing, and she wouldn’t have survived it. I chose to go to her rather than Lucia. Samarie is six now and she calls me Seed. If I had just—”
“Don’t. Don’t do that to yourself, Creed.”
“It’s not that—”
“It is that simple. Realistically, did you have time to go to both?”
My lips tighten and I stare down at my shoes with every slow step we take.
We had just finished breakfast that morning. I was literally stripping my shirt off to get in the shower when my soul sensed Samarie’s call.
I was dressed and strapping my swords to my back in less than a minute when Lusia called out.
